~~o ~~c st~ff , 't~~~~ From: Don~ Richards · · · · · V

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'· n c.: Report on .. thc-- _:l?eginninr;.s of the .Africnn Proj e_c t · · · :.<

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"Fa~ the. th~d time _ in fo~ mo.nths , .·· the Sout·h- A.fricnri government h.::s gone otlt or' its H~Y t o ' picic n qu~rrcl with the t'nited S'!:.C\tcs~ The above-is the l ead sentence frnm an .art_iclc ·in the 1 T<!s-h:i.nr,t011-Post (Sept . 25, 1965 ). The articl e sa~rs la~r.r " ••• Sou'j:.h Africa Hith· hCld permission for American planes from the c 2rrier .Indcpendence to us c airport faciliti es Hithout·a U.S. gunran­t ce in Hritin~ thn.t no l!eGro crC\zmari 11ould be abon.rd the planes. The Fnitcd St<!tcs C<!nc ellcd the carriers visi t. 11 And again later the ~rticle ouotes the South A!ricnn pr~ss ['.0 - s<};,rin~ that Ve:rWoel'd ·had 'i'Jut a 11b~.n on C~:ny Jlcgro · -. pcr.sor\ncl <:>.t Ainc.ric~m Tr~1cld.n~ statirms in South· .Africa'! ~'hat was the /r.iC'ric<m response ? .The ~rticle . says th?.t the Ho:rd from "Amcriccm ·officinls-11 is that

·--~~~l.cryonc l:not-Js . that,. pcither the NaV'.{ nor ! if.SA ,,iould drcar.1 of s ending ·I·Tegro , pcrsonhc.l irit.~ South Africa" · and therefore it H~f. _cmbarras~:d.ng and unncc cssary

. for Ve:rtwc.ra . ~0 _ m.:~kq a public issue out "Of 1-Jhnt' h2s been <1 II gentl emen t s agreement" bct~Jc'Cr£ tHO. c 'otfu.triCSo .

In short the United States finds it expedi ent ( p,;o::>d for bi~ business· invest­ments) not to ntQ!1d on p1·inc i~lc, and C~:S f;y_r as South I frica is .c oncerned, c on­clones and SH!):?orts . its r~c ist polic ics ( cc onomic ally 1-1i th business investments

-_, and ljolitiC'ail:/ llith . silence). This fnct may not be surprising t :o SI_~CC pe()pl c lJho have time and time ng~in come f~_co to .:t~ce vJith the hypt:_orisy of this govcrrunent, but 1-1~t i s , if not surprising, very depressing is th.,_t the , t.r .s . government hns only be-en alloHcd to get ,m-vay '1-Jith its South l•frican _pol=i:-CY bl::cm;,sc there has not been one substantial voice in this cotmtry opp-osing it. ·

_.- nThe liomvcment" has been almost completely sil ent, and the very insignificnnt, ~-.mostly ineffective protests unich have occnrrcc1 have been organized by n

hnndful of whites in the l:orth. . · · ·. · · . . · . ,.. . . · . .

Thos e who were mwre of the situation i·Jcre not ihc ones v1ho could be ex­pected to ".ct o~ it, . (Hhi tnC"J Young, ;-rillcins , etc •). And thos c of us (mostly S'~CC -typcs)Yihd' arc given t o action :have never roCI.lly h<Y.d access to informn.tinn about· Africa~ -· ·

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iss\.{mj_ng .-tl:lat:. we arc.· the people v1ho arc most c apD.blc of gcncratine cnou~h momentum. c!nd .act'ivity to force the issue on the government - then ;w've :aot _ to'· ci o·· ·s omc '" h0mc;,, or k . 11 •

Some suGgestions rind some thines already started:

A~ri~_Librar:r: ' ~ . .

A l etter has bc<:n s ent out by_ Gt-1cn · lbbinson -(in P .Y. ) an4 myself asl:ing publish­ers ·to donate books to us about Africa . The idcn is that iri the J~tlanta ·offic e

1-1 0 could set ~lp a r0om t o. housc these books as - they c ome in. Hopc:fully . ~ ·lar:;cr perccntn3C of: these books Hill be rclevnnt .0ncs· the>.t He nrc interested in, then t he ones thnt arc u::m;)lly sent down. The libr~r<J Hould be for mainly staff usc and we could have a l:i.hrarian and, cards ·so t-ht everyone ;wuld get a chance·

. t o· -rc<.:d·. the books there . . (t-rc already hc.~v.c l co;)y of "The Hrc:tchcd of t he f.arth 11 ).

The books have already_ started t o c ome in :at a - -~ood pace- ~nd it looks lil:c it ~~ ~m 't b e long before vlc have a substo.nt:i.al librar y .

Dcvclopinr; AfricC~:n Primers:

Some of us could begin t o Hritc simple f~cts in a f or m that 1-1as easy for pe0pl c t a undcrst~nd oh out dif'£cr cnt Ai'ricnn nati ons , ,.,ith pichu:ocs ~nd dra1-1 ings (maybe lJJr Ji'r2nl~), so th<1t they uould be ·easy t::> r ead. This \·Jork Hould be inport~nt becnusc there arc virtually no books on Afr lca· for childr en in this countr.:r. ':lc c0nld develop 01.'.r mni, print them oursclvcG , and distribt~tc them i n c or:nnWtitics c-.round the countr"J ·

SI!CC J~fricar. Conferc:nc c:

This is perhaps the: mo:::;t c oncrete idea ()f fccting us in the n cD.r f utt'.rc , hcc aunc He can r ec.:td and r ead but probabl y the thin3 l lhich '1-J i ll effect t1.S moat w:i.ll be person:-1 c ontnct ,,Jith l~fricans . C hurcl~ V10milton, at Lincol n Univer sity , .:md r.vsdf arc !)lanning a s mall'con­f crcncc for Sl!CC pc0pl c t o be hclcl· at Lincoln i n the Sprin.~ break there . It vJill only be three or f our days , but t.·Jith J') S:1CC pco!11C' and 2bout 10 Afric<>ns ac r esourc e peopl e the rnti0 11ill nll 01-1 for an a11f ul l ot· of contact ami ·: ;.ent rati0n . · The c rmfcr cnc e 1·1ill have cul ture>J, historicnl , a nd 11 nvw · ) 1 as, ccts , in '!·Jhich He can t nJ.lc about the i nrlcpendcnc e lllG~c.mcnts and hou y Here or!3~nizcd , pr esent lib eration r.:ov cmcnts in countries th2t a r en ' t yet '-- e, a nd p2rticul ar cm)hasis on South Africa~ P(:rhaps u c c an hav e intens e

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discussion· of hmJ 11e can relate to the Soutl~ "~frican situation.

African students in the :_")ost have ' f aced re~)risals for coming south or making contacts l~ith civil rights cr0ups. If this Here to ha:)pen in connection -vlit.h us He could publicize it and demc.nd that the eovernment reverse its action.

This lwuld only be the first in ~ l ong ~cries of such c0nfercnccs ·until ue hac;l reached all of the staff arid·:,nn.i.ch 0ft~e Hper(): comr.runity.

. . . . - : ' .. . . , ~~-~c-~l_ Trips:.

· Bob .... and J will be attending the Orgv.nizntion of Afric<:.n Unity Conference in ll.crc>._, Ghana• ·Hhile l·le arc there 1-1e uant to try and ~rrunge thin~s so that other SHCC people can make similar trips. There is probabl y nothing comparable as a l earning c:q:)crience to people actually ~oing to Africn themselves. And it uould be ~ood if more and more SliCC people can ect to go there. One of the things that >-ze vJant to do is to follow up 0n the verg good contacts John ar.d Don made on their trip l ast year.

Personnel:

From talking to vario\ls people this is uhat the Personnel for .the project sccw.s to be so far: Atlanta - Sharon Jackson Eississippi - Doris 1Jerby· Philadelphia -l:- Fred lieelcy (at Lincoln) lkl-J Y9rk - Gtvcrf nobinson and Prathia F..all

Silas Formc.n is very concerned about the Africc-n Project and has done some expl0ratory v10rk on his oun . There arc p~obably alot of other peo"Dle uho fall in his catc{~ory.

The pco)lc that I named ~.bove arc those o ho have a p<:>.rticular interest in the project and Hho have s a irJ that they Houlcl like t0 S~)end part of their time ·: mal~inr; contacts and 'heing liasons uith the Africans in this country . Sh~~6n is ta!:in~ c are of the 1-1ork in the P.frican Library. Uhen I come back ( early December) I 1-1ill spend all of m.:~;,r time vJOrldng on the project . I v!ill be living in Birmingham anrl uill be in Atlant~ on the ueckcnds . I think' that Hith this personnel ue can c;et off to 6. good start, and that as time eoes by other people \Jill ;.1ant to work on the project full time.

The staff should talk about llhat they sec as the main fu.nction of the project. One of the things ·Hhi.ch I thou~ht \vas most important 1-1as for us to !i1~.l~o materials available to the staff in the f:i.cld - so that peopl e could hold their ovm Horksho::>s. lfc have made contact 1-Jith some African st11dents Hho s ay that they ar? 1-Ji}ling to com? doun to the proj ects in the south and talk t o people. In ik~~ ork :Je made contact 1-1ith a South African 'Hho heads tho Fnity Hovcment of South /~frica, Cr. Tabata • •• .J • .. , '\ ,... •

A ·smal). wou~ of ys had I think vJere vcr<-; ~ood . questions· of 11 sC.:curlt.y '' African l~·o jcct .

s ome preli minary talks in /·.tlanta rbout the projr.cl.i \·lhich J~t the st;:.ff meetinG 1·Jc should discuss somo of the

vJhir.h '.·I<.::Cf' n ..-i ::.;e•l in /\ t.l~nt.~, 1·1:i +.h .r cG<U'r] to t he

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